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tv   CNN Newsroom With Fredricka Whitfield  CNN  April 9, 2016 8:00am-9:01am PDT

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stenson posted this picture on instagram with his daughter with the caption, alice told me don't worry about speith, daddy, he will be late for his tee time. speith made his tee time. alice's plan didn't work. beautiful day out here at the masters. a little windy and chilly. hopefully will warm up and we have a great round of golf today. >> there is so much more news ahead. we will turn it over to fred. i want to warn you, political guests have been a little feisty today. >> anything goes. and maybe there is a lot of tension building as we get to the half way point in the primary caucus season. anything goes at masters, too. anything can happen. it has been very windy and that is the surprise and seemingly the ritual of the masters. >> very good point.
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>> and thank you to martin. >> great to see you. >> you'll see him tomorrow. >> thank you so much. have a great day. >> 11:00 eastern hour. "newsroom" starts right now. >> we begin with breaking news. police have charged with participating in the activities of a terrorist group. they have identified the second person present at the subway attacks in brussels. police also carrying out new raids today in the brussels neighborhood. dozens of police officers moving into the area as residents are evacuated. this comes a day after the arrest of six more suspects in the brussels and paris attacks. we have full coverage at the scene of the raid and our terror analyst is also standing by.
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let me begin with you at the scene. what more can you tell us about the charges and the raids? >> we certainly found out more about what the raid was about. one of the things the police have told us is that the raids took place on the third and fourth floor of the building that you see there behind me. we have spoken to residents and they say many doors, the apartment search and padlocks put on the apartments afterwards. many people can't get into their apartments. the federal prosecutor of belgium has come up with a statement saying the reason for this massive raid that took place here involving some 50 police officers was apparently they believe some terror suspects may have used this premises as a safe house. of course, we know the cells behind the paris and brussels attacks operating out of safe houses as they were plotting the attacks.
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you are absolutely right that one of the people at the subway bombing has also been identified. his name is osama positively id as being on the scene at the subway bombing and as being one of the people who bought backpacks apparently used in the bombings. he is one of the people who was arrested on friday. >> thank you so much. appreciate that. let's bring in cnn contributor and author of "isis inside the army of terror". since yesterday belgium authorities arrested six more terror suspects and police have charged this mohammed abrini and another suspect. what does this tell you about the possible networ involved here when at first when it seemed like there were just a handful of people involved now it is appearing to be maybe with
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these arrests a network a little more widespread? >> it always is the case. it is never just the people who perpetrate an attack. they have a logistical hub and support network. they have gangs of fellow travelers who are domiciling them in these safehouses or keeping their cover from law enforcement. i will recall in october right before the paris attack i interviewed an isis defector who told me he trained up two french foreign fighters who went back to france. after the paris attack i said any of these guys ring a bell and he said no. that meant that two people were running around france trained by isis operative and hadn't been arrested or detained or set anything up yet. you are seeing in the cities of europe particularly paris, brussels and also in london, berlin, there is a honey comb structure underneath the every day society of these guys who if they haven't gone over and been
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trained are at least being recruited by those who have and who have returned. cnn reported yesterday about a dozen known isis operatives are now on european wide drag net to be captured. the good news is the more guys you arrest the easier it is to find out who the confederates are. this is the value and importance of human intelligence. the bad news is when the arrests are announced it means any attacks in the works will be accelerated and we saw this with brussels. it was an attack meant to occur on easter sunday but sped up by about a week because salah abdeslam had been caught. i think they felt the net was closing in on them. >> i want to interject on that thought because one has to wonder whether these arrests will reach across or whether these arrests could indeed lead to the kind of q&a interrogation of suspects that will lead to other arrests.
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and potentially even break up what network might be uncovered as a result of these arrests. >> i have to say one of the more farcical moments is one of the guys they just detained was arrested in 2015, one of the most notorious in belgium, sentenced to five years but let out within a year. he is back in action running rings and coordinating isis attacks or being suspected of coordinating them. this gets to the heart of the problem in europe and security services have not really wrapped their heads around. this goes back decades. they have in their midst a sort of shadow class of individuals who do not belong to european society, do not want to belong to european society and are using capital cities as outposts of ideology, nation building.
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>> i think i heard you earlier describe it like little colonies and that explains why some of these suspects would stay close to home and continue to operate without really going noticed until another tragedy unfolds like this. >> it is not that all of these communities, you have hundreds of thousands of millions of people who are sympathetic to this world historic view. it's not the case. much like in syria and iraq what happens is these guys go around like thugs wielding intimidation, brutal tactics of scaring local populations into keeping their mouths shut. after salah abdeslam was captured text messages were going around saying do not cooperate with the police. this is not your business. if you live in these communities you keep your mouth shut because why risk getting attacks or
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killed by the very people living in your midst. this is the problem. >> if we can switch gears to secretary of state john kerry making surprise visits in iraq as well as afghanistan. are these visits in any way a signal to extremism, the ongoing global fight against terrorism or a direct message to, say, isis? >> i read it differently. the iraqi government is facing a crisis. one of them is a budgetitary crisis or economic crisis. the greatest threat to the is they will run out of money. one referred to an economic tsunami. in baghdad what you are seeing now emerged.
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the fight against isis is the beginning, there is a civil war taking place. you have a pro iranian block of iraqi political actors responsible for a lot of shi'a militia groups range now against iraqi nationalists. the iraqi prime minister is in the latter camp as is the leading shi'a cleric in the country as is one of the most notorious foes of the u.s. occupation come out of the closet as iraqi nationalist and not pro-iranian asset. i think kerry is worried. announced this week a reshuffling of his cabinet. there is always horse trading. a lot of people who are very capable and qualified were attacked because they are a vested interest that do not want them to wipe out corruption and
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take away powers of the old political guard including that of anwar al awlaki. coming up, let's talk the race to the white house. while sanders and clinton fight over who is more new york than the other the fight for delegates moves to wyoming. we'll take you there live.
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grabs. most other candidates are looking ahead to new york. live pictures of our own people right there. you are seeing live pictures in rochester new york of media folks at the ready for an appearance of candidates there. gang is all here. we are all together now. hello everyone. paul, we are going to begin with you. caucus locations, tell me about what you are seeing in wyoming. what kind of cernout turnout is expected? >> 14 delegates, record turnout expected, weather cooperating. no late spring blizzard here in wyoming. if you look in this room people starting to lineup. about 1,200 people will come
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here to central high school possibly more. we are literally going to give you a peek behind the curtain. this is where the caucusing will take place. a lot of energy in the room right now. we saw a cluster of people not long ago, one of them with a guitar. they say they have a bernie sanders song sing along. behind me you can see this is a hillary clinton side and over there the bernie sanders side. it expects to be a record turnout here in wyoming as they battle for the 14 delegates. >> very fascinating. it's amazing. people are getting a chance to see these caucuses unfold in a way that people have not been able to enjoy. we'll check back with you. with expectations for sanders to do well in wyoming he is campaigning in new york today hoping to prove that he has the home field advantage over hillary clinton. he was born there and grew up
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there. also this morning sanders doubling down on his attacks against clintb saying once again that she is not qualified to be president. >> this back and forth with secretary clinton about her qualifications. i know you said she is qualified. bill clinton asked about the comments and says of course you wouldn't have made the same charges if she were a man. he said i think there are different standards for women, some are subconscious. >> i appreciate bill clinton being my psychoanalyst. it is really nice. the reality is ever since wisconsin when that became the six out of seven states that we have won in either caucuses or primaries i think the clinton campaign has made it public telling the media that here in new york they are about to become very negative, about to beat us up. i just want them to understand
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that we have tried to run an issue-oriented campaign but we are not going to be attacked every single day. our record is not going to be distorted. we are going to fight back. what i said is that a candidate like secretary clinton who voted for the disastrous war in iraq, who have supported virtually every disastrous trade agreement which has cost us millions of decent paying jobs and who receives tens of millions of dollars from a superpack from every special interest you can think of, i have my doubts about what kind of president she would make. >> let's bring in cnn's chris fray. how did this devolve? he said he wanted this to be issue-oriented. now we have something else on the field. >> there is a lot on the line for sanders in new york. it is really a must-win state for the kid from brooklyn.
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we heard sanders say he has doubts about what kind of president hillary clinton would make. he has been softening his tone. this fight blew up when sanders said clinton wasn't qualified to be president, one hillary clinton said she never heard before. >> you may have heard senator sanders say i'm unqualified to be president. seriously, i have been called a lot of things over the years but unqualified has not been one of them. and this morning he finally acknowledged that he doesn't really believe that. this is all pretty silly. >> clinton's camp found critique as helpful because they see it
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as a key strength. sanders defended the criticism arguing it was clinton's camp that questioned his qualifications to be president before walking the comments back. sanders and the campaign are questioning clinton's judgment clinton has called her iraq war vote a mistake and has come out in support of same-sex marriage all as sanders is playing hard to the democratic base trying to upset clinton in her adopted home state where she leads in the polls. after winning seven of the last eight contests sanders trails by about 230 pledge delegates and needs to win 77% of the pledge delegates remaining to blinch the nomination. sanders is hitting hard today and hit first of four campaign stops in new york city trading for smaller retail stops and
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make the way to the western part of the state. clinton campaigned outside the city and has one event scheduled in brooklyn. we are all very much looking forward to when both candidates face-off for the first time in more than a month on thursday when they debate here on cnn. >> days away and that is on the eve, a few days away from the new york primary all promising to be very interesting. we will leave it like that. thank you so much. let's talk more about the democratic race particularly about the focus on the process leading up to the convention because i'm joined by charles blow, a cnn political commentator and op-ed columnist for "new york times." good to see you. i want to read from an op-ed called the undemocratic party. you say, quote, democratic party that prides itself on the grand ideals of inclusion and fairness the nominating process is anything but.
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so charles you mean largely because you think the caucuses and super delegates you believe those things are unfair. why? >> i think they are not necessarily democratic. let's start with this position which is something most people don't quite process which is that the kpanz campaigns, the parties do the nominating. this is not really a democratic process. the democratic party prides itself on these ideas of inclusion. they pride themselves on attacking people who attack voting access and rights. and you have kind of apparatuses within the party, within the nominating process that do the exact opposite of what the party itself claims to champion. if you look at caucuses, we have a caucus in wyoming today, caucuses are great in the sense that they are very open, you can see what is happening. you can count the votes yourself
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if you are in the room. >> people are discussing. >> exactly. >> they are negotiating, so to speak. >> here are the problems. the very same people hurt by voter i.d. laws are hurt by caucus participation. these are people who work offhour jobs and cannot take that amount of time off. people who can't afford child care, senior citizens who can't make it to the places, sometimes students who cannot take that time off. the very same people hurt by voter suppression are hurt by the caucuses. >> and so are you saying -- really maybe it is not negotiating during these caucuses but really it is arguing, issue-oriented trying to make a selection of people. am i hearing you say these are ant quated portions of the system that should go away and time to reform the way in which votes are counted or the way in which the democratic party
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collects or gathers delegates leading up to? >> i think you have to figure out your vision of democracy in america and impose that on the nominating process. the fact that the democrats have far more caucuses than republicans is already a problem. i feel like -- >> the democrats have superdelegates. >> how do you explain the continuation of this disparity or difference between the two parties and how they go about selecting a nominee? >> superdelegates are a relatively new phenomenon because the elite wanted more of a say who got nominate today make sure they were getting someone to win and govern well. that is an interesting concept but the problem is that -- in fact, they never overturned the
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popular vote but the idea that they exist and what my problem with them is that they are able, allowed to profess their choice for whoever they support before a single vote is cast, what that does is put a thumb on the scale that says this is who the elite think should be elected before you go into vote for anyone. >> charles blow, we can talk all day because i know you have so many strong thoughts and i like that. right now john kasich is stepped to the microphone talking to a lot of people hoping that new york will be a place where maybe he could gain momentum. he is at rochester, new york. >> whatever they are and sometimes it rubs people the wrong way in my republican party. sometimes it rubs people wrong in the other party.
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it's not my job. my republican roots are my vehicle and not my master. just because somebody contributes money to me means nothing to me. [ cheers and applause ] i have done this all of my career. i'm not making something up here and giving you a new speech. my mind's eye and this is what i really have to tell the other group, too. my mind's eye are the people i grew up with, the people who play by the rules and often times things didn't work out for them, those are the people that i have to represent. i have to represent the best of what we can be. and i'm not applying for statehood or anything else. i'm just going to do the best job that i can to restore integrity to that office and to shift power back to you.
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[ cheers and applause [ cheers and applause ] give us a hug. >> john kasich enjoying quite a bit of support and applause particularly saying being a republican may be in my roots but not necessarily my master there as he stumpfs for support. it is a big political week. for cnn tomorrow on state of the union bernie sanders will join the show along with hillary clinton sunday at 9:00 a.m. eastern. and then tuesday donald trump will be speak wg voters in a -- speaking with voters in a town hall. in five days cnn hosts the democratic presidential debate.
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don't miss hillary clinton and bernie sanders thursday night 9:00 eastern here on cnn. in. s about to arrive. and with her, a flood of potential patients. a deluge of digital records. x-rays, mris. all on account...of penelope. but with the help of at&t, and a network that scales up and down on-demand, this hospital can be ready. giving them the agility to be flexible & reliable. because no one knows & like at&t. what's going on here? i'm val, the orange money retirement squirrel from voya. we're putting away acorns. you know, to show the importance of saving for the future. so you're sort of like a spokes person? more of a spokes metaphor. get organized at voya.com.
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against isis. joining me now on the live where she is following the secretary. give us an idea of what was behind this trip particularly to afghanistan. >> well, the official reason why he is here is to host a u.s.-afghan bilateral commission which is an annual meeting to review agreement, it is areas like security, defense, development. he did come at a pivotal time to the government led by the ceo, john kerry negotiated that government in 2014 when there was a bitter election battle. the two leaders did not get along. they are dead locked over key appointments, charges of corruption and a lot of
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misconfidence in the government. so john kerry is here with a real strong message to get their act together and start working on behalf of the afghan people. there is a pivotal summit coming up in july and another key meeting of afghan donors in october. secretary kerry basically said if you want nato support. if you want money from national donors you need to prove that you are up to the task. >> traveling with the secretary, thank you so much. now back to the race for the white house. senator ted cruz is hoping to lock up all the delegates in colorado today. so far he has won 21 of the 34 delegates at stake. colorado had a rather unusual method of awarding delegates over a period of days and today they award the final 13. the party rules are not going over well with front runner donald trump. trump sending out this tweet
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saying isn't it a shame that the person who will have by far the most delegates and many millions more votes than anyone else still must fight? cnn joining me now from colorado springs. that tweet referring to the gop process overall not just colorado but walk us through this very unique process there where you are. >> reporter: we are at the colorado state gop convention. you hear a lot of energy. this event just getting kicked off. some 6,000 state party insiders and activists have gathered here today. they will have the responsibility to elect the 13 remaining delegates left to be elected here from colorado to the rnc. you are right, it is a different process than we see in other states. there is not a traditional primary or national caucus where these delegates are elected. instead, they are elected from the state convention and the district conventions. the district conventions have already taken place.
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those wrapped up last night. there are several steps in the process for each delegate candidate to get through just to get to the conventions. it is complicated but it really is on the campaigns to work strategically in the weeks and months leading up to conventions to get their supporters through each step of the process. ted cruz's camp seems to have had it figured out. of 21 delegates selected they said they will support ted cruz. do you feel like the cruz campaign on the ground in colorado has outmaneuvered? >> i think the cruz campaign has been successful in colorado because we started earlier, identified more grass roots supporters. i don't think other campaigns took this process seriously early enough. i think that is what the advantage is in what is happening right now. >> ted cruz will be addressing
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this crowd here this afternoon. he is the only presidential candidate coming to colorado this weekend. donald trump was expected in the state on thursday. he cancelled his planned rally earlier in the week and as one of his senior campaign advisers tells us if donald trump picks up remaining delegates that would be an added bonus. >> thank you so much. colorado springs, appreciate that. donald trump not visiting there. he will be having a visit with cnn. donald trump speaking with voters in a cnn town hall moderated by anderson cooper tuesday 9:00 p.m. eastern time. ♪ the all-new audi a4, with available virtual cockpit. ♪ yeah, i was just talking uhabout yourico?... emergency roadside service and how it's available 24/7 and then our car overheated... what are the chances?
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he was a high school wrestling coach. cnn correspondent nick valencia with more on this. some information in the documents goes into details about hastert and what he allegedly did and this information is very disturbing and will be to a lot of viewers. >> some context for viewers. back in october he pled guilty to breaking banking laws. two days ago that his defense laid out the request for sentencing. in response federal prosecutors released court paperwork where they lay out some allegations of sexual misconduct. while the crime of breaking banking laws was recent according to federal prosecutors rooted in a dark origin of hastert's past. in one cases of sexual molestation the defendant
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hastert told individual a to lie down on a bed and take off his underwear. the defendant began massaging the individual's groin area and not touching him in a therapeutic manner but in an inappropriate way. these took place in the 1960s and '70s while he was head coach of high school wrestling team. there are five young men who say they were molested. it is important to note that mr. hastert never said he was involved in these cases and never mentioned them specifically. a few days ago his defense attorney did release a statement on his behalf. the statement goes on to read plus hastert is deeply sorry and apologizes for misconduct. it is very important to note he is not going to be charged. the statute of limitations has
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come and gone. he is no longer going to face charges for these alleged cases. >> because of the statute of limitations expiration but that statement from the attorney while not an admission, an apology for these alleged offenses and he is facing sentencing on the banking. all of this is coming together. >> it is all connected. that is the fed's case to try to figure out sentencing, they don't mention prison time but do say 0 to 6 months. when the feds approached him about breaking banking laws he says he was a victim of extortion. they realized that the tone of individual a, this alleged victim of sexual molestation was not one of somebody distorted and realized that hastert was lying about interactions and was
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paying hush money for what had happened about 30 years ago. $3.5 million in all. >> so we will talk more next time we see you because as you mentioned there are other young men at the time who alleged that he had inappropriate appearances with him. we will talk more about that and then our legal guys will join us next hour to talk about the legal road or lack thereof or how the cases may potentially come together. >> stunning, 26 pages and some details are just so disgusting and the allegations against this former house speaker. >> very disturbing. we'll see you again. straight ahead, there are four super delegates in wyoming. so far they are all leaning towards this woman right here, hillary clinton. how important are the states other 14 delegates to the clinton camp? we will ask a hillary supporter from wyoming coming up next. dog food have? 18%? 20?
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your column. you write this. given the state of the nominating race it likely will be one of the most meaningful and impactful votes a wyoming democrat will cast in years. why do you believe that and what explains what is expected to be a very high turnout today? >> wyoming is probably the reddest of the red states in the united states of america. we have not voted for a democrat for president since 1964. so the general election our small democratic vote loses. but in the caucus we have an opportunity to let the voice be heard in the selection of a candidate. when there isn't a real race such as when president obama ran for reelection the caucus turnout declines. we do have a higher turnout and
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we are delighted to have everyone here today. >> and that includes four super delegates who apparently have pledged their support to hillary clinton. we had a guest on earlier who is a columnist for the "new york times" who said he thought the notion of super delegates is unfair, that super delegates have already made up their minds well before a caucus or primary. what is your view on the power of a super delegate and whether it is necessary or what? >> well, you know, if i say it is traditional that may apply it is ant quated. i favor a primary where the winner would take all. i think it is simpler and easier for voters to understand. everyone learns to play by the rules. i have been a super delegate when i was in statewide elected office. i always bid on my conscious.
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the reason why have super delegates to the honor the party and the political -- have a better feel for impact of candidates. while we have the system i think acceptable but i would prefer something that was simpler and more direct. >> so explain the scene. what do you suppose the tone might be in wyoming when this caucusing gets underway? how will people who are supporting their candidate of choice try to convey the message to see if at all they can help their candidate win the 14 delegates? >> first of all, i wouldn't dream of predicting what is going to happen here. i have seen how wrong the pollsteres have been. the polls
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so i won't predict. i will say i think it's going to be competitive. we fit the bernie sanders profile. we are a rocky mountain state, utah, idaho, colorado went for bernie. we have low minority population. but hillary clinton ran strongly in 2008. i will give the nominating speech. there will be a seconding speech. i am going to focus on her foreign policy credentials because i think there's not much difference really at heart on the domestic issues between the two candidates of the democrats. there's no question at all that hillary clinton is the best qualified person running in either party on foreign policy. >> former wyoming policy maker. happy caucusing today. >> thank you for the coverage,
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cnn. the pope open for more tolerance for gays and lesbians. huge impact this could have on the church next. mobility is very important to me. that's why i use e*trade mobile. it's on all my mobile devices, so it suits my mobile lifestyle. and it keeps my investments fully mobile... even when i'm on the move... ahhh. and it keeps my investments fully mobile...
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pope francis is calling on his church to be more tolerant of nontraditional families, including same sex couples and
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divorced catholics. this week he put out a paper called on love in the family. he writes a pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws as if they were stones to throw at people's lives. just a month ago pope francis commented on the u.s. presidential race, took a not so subtle dig at donald trump. joining me now to talk about what this means for the church and its 1.2 billion catholics around the world is cnn religion commentator father edward becka. good to see you. this paper. >> by the way, here it is. look at that. >> there it is there. a lot to read. good bedtime reading. >> you say it does not highlight changes but instead it is calling attention to things that are of great importance to the pope. >> fred, you know what's so great about it and people are reacting to, it's treating the
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faithful like adults. vatican 2 documents talked about formation of one's conscience and that that's the highest moral barometer for making certain decisions within one's life and in the church. but then after that we didn't talk about it much. what this pope does in this document is to say that you are the ar bit or, you in the midst of difficult situations sometimes need to look at your life, enter process of discernment, talk to your pastor, talk to other faithful christians and come to decisions for yourselves. so what's so great, he's respecting one's dignity and capacity to discern for themselves where they need to be in the midst of these issues. >> let's breakdown some of those things. divorced catholics. in his view should be allowed to take communion. the pope saying this. the divorced who have entered a new union should be made to feel
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part of the church, end quote. traditionally doesn't, continuing on with his statement, doesn't being part of the church include communion? >> yes. what he's saying is if you are divorced and you have remarried and haven't been able to get annulment for some reason that maybe for you you can enter into this process and communion can be possible. you go to the priest and say look, i can't get annulment for these reasons, my children or ex-spouse isn't cooperative. but yet i really believe in the church, want to be more part of the church. you can with your conscience, speaking with your pastor and other faithful say i believe i can go to communion because i want to be one with this community even though i can't reach the ideal now of having a sacramental marriage in the church. it is saying everybody has a shot here, but not everybody reaches it perfectly all at once. he talks about john paul ii used to talk about law of
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gradualness. it means kind of we're on the way. you're not always there right away, but if you're in process, maybe that's good enough. >> the pope also addressing homosexuality, particularly at a time in this country where so many states are helping to fuel this argument and debate over so-called religious freedom bills. this is the pope in his words. quote, every person regardless of sexual orientation ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration. he then goes on to say, quote, at times the way we present our christian beliefs and treat other people has helped to contribute to today's problematic situation. so this pope, he is not afraid of injecting himself in global dialogue, in this case u.s. particularly some national dialogue with this topic as just the latest example. why does he do this? >> that's right, fred.
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he does it because he believes we need to be part of the conversation. so he says discrimination against gays is never acceptable. that may say something to states currently dealing with that issue. but many gay people said he didn't go far enough because he says in this document same sex unions cannot be equated with traditional marriage between men and women. you say tolerate the gay people. gay people say we want more than tolerance, we want equality. the pope is saying we want you to be part of us, want you to be part of our community, but we cannot put your unions on the same status as male, female men, women, marriage because you can't procreate. transmission of life is necessary for marriage. so there is disparity between what gays want, some gays, and what the pope is saying. >> all right. thank you so much. father beck, good to see you. >> you too, fred. stay with us. next hour of newsroom starts right now.
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hello yen. two raises. democratic caucuses in wyoming are set to start in one hour. these are live pictures of people assembling in cheyenne. on the republican side, day two of the colorado state republican convention in colorado springs. senator ted cruz is delivering remarks there. so far he has won all of the delegates up for grabs in the last couple days in that state. the final 13 delegates will be up for grabs today and awarded. let's start with cnn's paul vercammen in cheyenne. it seems when i talk with the former secretary of state of wyoming, there's a lot of enthusiasm. describe how excited people are

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